The Andhra Pradesh State Higher Education Planning Board, during its third meeting on Friday, discussed the way forward for realising the ‘Education 4.0’ goals to meet the requirement of the ‘Industry 4.0’.
Presided by Special Chief Secretary (Higher Education) J. Shyamala Rao and attended by Vice-Chancellors of 40 State and Central universities, the meeting focused on the blended learning approach to integrate different areas of study, APSCHE Chairman K. Hemachandra Reddy told the media on Friday.
“The Andhra Pradesh government is waiting for the writ petitions pertaining to recruitment of faculty members in universities to be disposed of. It has enhanced the proposed filling of vacancies from 2,000 announced in February to 3,000 now,” said Mr. Hemachandra Reddy.
Referring to ending the arbitrary appointment of ‘Ad hoc’ teachers, assistant professors in universities, he said, the State government is devising a mechanism to hold a test within the next two months for those aspiring to take up such jobs.
“A State-level written test will be held for those meeting the qualification criteria and universities will be required to take the faculty only from the pool of those qualified in that test,” explained Mr. Hemachandra Reddy.
Without quality faculty, the quality of education cannot be improved. Hence, the focus is on getting good teaching staff, he said, adding that cooperation with Central universities would benefit both institutions in five clusters of Anantapur, Tirupati, Amaravati, Godavari and North Andhra.
Glue grant
Referring to the National Education Policy (NEP) - 2020, Mr. Hemachandra Reddy said the Centre is giving ‘glue grant’ for joint research by State and Central universities and Andhra Pradesh has always been in the forefront in this regard.
The blueprint of the ‘Education 4.0’ was prepared by AICTE National Coordinator Buddha Chandrasekhar and discussions on it will continue on Saturday.
Central University of Andhra Pradesh Vice-Chancellor S.A. Kori said construction of the new campus at Jantaluru would begin soon as they had deposited ₹105 crore with the R&B Department for the purpose.
Sri Krishnadevaraya University Vice-Chancellor M. Ramakrishna Reddy and JNTU Anantapur Vice-Chancellor G. Ranga Janardhana Rao also took part in the programme.
